Training first

The Wilberforce Trust, formerly the Wilberforce Home for the Blind, has been providing such services for six years and has built up contractual relationships with local authorities including North Yorkshire. City of York's own rehabilitation service is also based within our York premises.

Additionally, we have worked with individuals, offering assessments and training programmes to maintain and increase their independence, and with organisations seeking to increase the understanding of their staff when working with people with visual impairments.

Funding for the provision of rehabilitation services is an issue, and not all local authorities have sufficient funds to meet demand.

However a secondary issue, not referred to in your article, is that even where such funds do exist, it may still not be possible to appoint suitably qualified individuals to the posts. We have been trying unsuccessfully to recruit two vacant posts for six months with no positive outcome whatsoever, even when offering salaries in excess of many local authorities.

Our experiences are shared by many providers of rehabilitation services and the reason for our combined difficulties is a national shortage of qualified personnel.

Following the closure of several training facilities (primarily due to financial viability), only two remain in the country. The number of newly qualified personnel coming on to the job market each year fails to address the number of vacant posts currently within local authorities and agencies such as ours, let alone any potential increase in demand for such services.

It is therefore vital that any drive to increase funding for the provision of rehabilitation services also aims to strengthen and increase the capacity of training providers to generate greater numbers of trained personnel to deliver these valuable services.

Keith McKee,

General Manager,

The Wilberforce Trust,

Box Tree House,

Northminster Business Park,

Northfield Lane, York.

Updated: 10:51 Friday, October 14, 2005